Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

The Place For Theory: Reproductive Justice Discourse In N. K. Jemisin’S The Fifth Season, Devon Graham

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In this paper, I demonstrate how N.K. Jemisin, popular science fiction and fantasy author and winner of three Hugo Awards, is in conversation with Reproductive Justice theory in her novel The Fifth Season. I argue that N.K. Jemisin has resisted the hegemonic academic language and rhetoric by creating expansive theory and critique through her many works of speculative fiction and further demonstrate how Jemisin’s approach using literature as her means of production is crucial to her unique way of theorizing.Centrally, through close textual analysis, I argue that through The Fifth Season Jemisin is in conversation with other theorists, such …

Haunted By Fatness: Medicalization, Diet Culture, And The Failure Of Chrononormativity, Catherine Jeffery

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In the summer of 2016, BBC Three filmed an autopsy of an obese woman in a documentary called Obesity: The Post Mortem. In addition, BBC has released a “behind the scenes” video of the procedure, detailing the real-life process of shipping a body overseas for “medical research.” This essay begins by pointing out the expressions of fears of fatness and of fat people present in Netflix’s full-length version of the autopsy as well as in the behind-the-scenes clip, by focusing on narration in the films as well as stylization such as sound and cinematography choices. I will use the …

Anti-Colonial Action In Real Time: Mestizx Latinx People, Place, Cisheteropatriarchy, And Our Way Forward, Alejandro Bupara

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Mestizx Latinx peoples, being of both white and Indigenous heritage, are colonized peoples on colonized lands living under the settlers’ systems of white supremacy, cisheteropatriarchy, and capitalism. Mestizx Latinx people have made various attempts to reckon with this colonized status and define an anti-colonial, liberatory way forward for ourselves. This essay explores the contemporary context of Mestizx peoples in the United States, positioning our history within the broader story of settler colonialism. It investigates our disconnection from our ancestral lands and traditions, arguing that Mestizx Latinx people have formed new attachments to places on these colonized lands via the hood …

Child's Pose, Kelsey Zazanis

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Written from the perspective of my eight-year-old self, this poem illustrates the state-sanctioned power differentials between children and their legal guardians that give birth to incestuous violence. I hope for the reader to recall their own eight-year-old mind, life, and emotional world to further understand this severe power disparity.

Disney's Mulan And Unlocking Queer Asian-American Masculinity, Jess Kung

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Disney’s Mulan is a text easily celebrated for its nonwhite and queerable cast of characters. In this paper, I meditate on the ways that this Western interpretation of the myth can be used to explore the intersection between queer gender and Asian-American identity. This paper first looks at the origins of the Mulan myth and its original values of collective goals and filial piety, and then it considers how the Disney movie makes its characters embody “foreign” Western ideas that expose the inherent queerness of Asian-American masculinity. I also take a personal approach, drawing both from theorists and from my …

Men Who Care: Analyzing Masculinity Within Peer Support Organizations, Victoria Ford

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This study examines the concept of “healthy masculinity” through qualitative interviews with men in peer support roles. Men involved in peer support organizations highlighted values of empathy, understanding, and protecting others as being central to masculinity. Results revealed that men in peer support roles invoked cultural idioms or phrases of masculinity, which centered around the following themes: the lack of men, how men in peer support are different from other men, and how these are the “right kind” of men.

Queer Life Is Tragic: Lauren Berlant’S “Cruel Optimism” And Lee Edelman’S Negative Queerness In Life Is Strange, Tara Fredenburg

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

Life is Strange (2015), by Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch, has sparked outrage for “queerbaiting” lesbian and bisexual women in the gaming community, but criticisms pointed toward the game have failed to address its most pernicious argument. By placing the controversy within the historical context of the 1930s Hays Production Code, examining one of the game’s central lessons in conversation with philosopher Lauren Berlant’s concept of “cruel optimism” and critical theorist Lee Edelman’s anti-reproductive definition of queerness, I contend that Life is Strange (2015) reveals the inability of adherents to heteropatriarchal ideals to conceive a world beyond the current, oppressive …

(W)Holes Of Your Heart: Trans Utopian Performance In Janelle Monáe’S “Pynk”, Carlos J. Gómez

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

This essay wields trans methods to trace the trans cultural production of Black feminist thought, specifically by asking the following question: what is trans about Janelle Monáe’s Black feminist theorizing in “Pynk?” Thinking of Black feminist studies astrans studies allows us to disorient the white, which is to say anti-Black, disposition of trans studies. In this analysis, I describe the trans utopian performance of Black feminist sociality, inhabitation, and fugitivity. Moreover, I delineate the trans critiques of sex/gender essentialism, individualism, the State, and the body embedded in Monáe’s film and suggest the radical potential of a Black feminist theory …

What Advantage Does Difference Make? Leveling The Imperial Playing Field, Daniel Heinz

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

In this article, I revisit the last ten years of international sport policies on gender testing in order to revise normative constructions of the athletes’ bodies. Specifically, I focus on the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) new regulation from 2018 governing the eligibility of certain female athletes with differences of sexual development accompanied by elevated levels of natural testosterone. I argue that the IAAF testosterone regulation is based on a colonial continuity of upholding gender norms and racial hierarchies.

Murder And Machismo: Behind The Motivations Of Salvadoran Women Asylum Seekers, Victoria Colbert

Master's Theses

This thesis aims to draw connections between a culture of machismo, an ideological gender belief distinct to Latin America with heavy traces of patriarchy and misogyny, and the motivations of Salvadoran women seeking asylum in the United States. I develop these connections by first reviewing the literature on structural violence, the form of violence wherein the structure or social institution prevents certain demographics of people from meeting their basic needs and living their optimal lives (Galtung, 1969). I repeatedly use structural violence and its functions to parallel the operations of patriarchy and machismo to suggest that violence against women (VAW) …

Sexual Dimorphism In Homo Erectus Inferred From 1.5 Ma Footprints Near Ileret, Kenya, Brian Villmoare, Kevin G. Hatala, William Jungers

Anthropology Faculty Research

Sexual dimorphism can be one of the most important indicators of social behavior in fossil species, but the effects of time averaging, geographic variation, and differential preservation can complicate attempts to determine this measure from preserved skeletal anatomy. Here we present an alternative, using footprints from near Ileret, Kenya, to assess the sexual dimorphism of presumptive African Homo erectus at 1.5 Ma. Footprint sites have several unique advantages not typically available to fossils: a single surface can sample a population over a very brief time (in this case likely not more than a single day), and the data are geographically …

Legal Rights Of Transgender Students In Education, Almond A. Seals, Melissa C. Gonzales

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Nearly 150,000 school-aged teenagers in the United States identify as transgender, but the population continues to face harassment, bullying, and discrimination from their peers and educators. The most recent battles for bathroom access based on gender identity has led to significant policy debates nationally and statewide. It is critical for school leaders to promote an all-inclusive and safe school environment to help improve the academic experience for transgender students. The purpose of this paper is to outline the current anti-discrimination federal and state laws that protect against sex and gender identity harassment in school, including Title IX, Equal Access Act, …

Exploring Gender Roles And Gender Equality Within The Evangelical Church, Christopher Bishop

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This research aims to facilitate better understanding of perceptions of gender roles and gender equality among members of the Evangelical Church and to determine whether these perceptions differ by gender. The evangelical community’s ideologies and values have come to shape social and political dialogues within the United States. A key component of the faith is understanding the role each member plays within his or her family unit and community at large. The evangelical faith’s organizational structure and ideologies are informed by a patriarchal model that’s placed women at internal and structural odds, based on research exploring evangelically informed organizations. However, …

Does Money Indeed Buy Happiness? “The Forms Of Capital” In Fitzgerald’S Gatsby And Watts’ No One Is Coming To Save Us, Allie Harrison Vernon

English (MA) Theses

Looking primarily at two critically acclaimed texts that concern themselves with American citizenship—F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Stephanie Powell Watts’ No One is Coming to Save Us—I analyze the claims made about citizenship identities, rights, and consequential access to said rights. I ask, how do these narratives about citizenship sustain, create, or re-envision American myth? Similarly, how do the narratives interact with the dominant culture at large? Do any of these texts achieve oppositional value, and/or modify the complex hegemonic structure? I use Pierre Bourdieu’s “The Forms of Capital” to investigate the ways in which economic, cultural, …

What Role Has Social Media Played In Violence Perpetrated By Incels?, Olivia Young

Peace Studies Student Papers and Posters

This paper aimed to answer the question, what role has social media played in violence perpetrated by Incels?

Incels, or Involuntary celibates, are members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find sexual partners. Incels have been responsible for a number of violent attacks and mass killings in recent years.

This exploration involved a content analysis of online incel forums such as such as reddit and 4-chan, and of news articles about incel attacks. The content analysis of social media examined incel ideology and online rhetoric of hate and violence; while the analysis of news articles examined …

Examining The United Kingdom’S Soft Law Approach For Women On Boards With Regard To Gender Diversity And The Gender Pay Gap: A Regression Discontinuity Design, Silvana Chambers

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to remove barriers that hinder women’s advancement in the workplace, legislators have adopted gender quotas and targets to increase the numbers of women on boards (WOB). In 2011, the Davies Review rolled out the guidelines of the United Kingdom’s soft law approach for increasing the proportion of WOB in the largest publicly listed organizations. Promoted by advocates and proponents of WOB initiatives, the assumption that inequality is perpetuated by men and not women, has resulted in the expectation that WOB initiatives are a top-down approach to achieve gender equality in the workforce. This study examined the effects …

Affecting Social Change For Transgender And Gender-Expansive Children: Exploring Advocates' Perspectives, Cortny Stark

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

This interpretive case study explored the experience of advocates as they pursue social change for transgender and gender-expansive children (ages 4-12). The aim of the study is to improve current understanding of the process of advocacy for this population, as well as the context in which advocacy efforts occur. Data consisted of hour long interviews, advocacy artifacts as recommended by participants, and the researcher’s field journal. Participants included 12 advocates from a variety of backgrounds and geographic locations within the United States, to include educators, community advocates, and helping professionals. Implications of this study may include increased understanding of the …

Double Jeopardy: Minority Stress And The Influence Of Transgender Identity And Race/Ethnicity, Krystina Millar, Jason Eastman

Honors Theses

This study assessed gender and racial/ethnic differences in gender-related discrimination and psychological distress within a sample of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. Prior research suggests transgender individuals with multiple minority statuses experience higher psychological stress than their singly disadvantaged counterparts, and both minority race/ethnicity and transgender minorities experience more frequent and severe forms of discrimination than white and cisgender individuals. Using data from a convenience sample of 101 self-identified transgender and gender nonconforming adults recruited through LGBTQ+ organizations from across North America, I analyzed the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender-related minority stress, and psychological distress. Gender-related discrimination and gender-related victimization did …

Sexuality Through The Lens Of Secure Base Attachment Dynamics: Individual Differences In Sexploration, Dylan Selterman, Amanda N. Gesselman, Amy C. Moors

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

A key aspect of attachment functioning is the secure base, which empowers people to explore their environments, though some individuals do this more effectively than others. While most researchers have focused on adult attachment dynamics in terms of stress and threat (safe haven), we argue that concerted attention should also focus on relational processes in times of optimal functioning. In this paper, we introduce a new theoretical concept: secure base sexual exploration (or sexploration). We define this as the degree to which individuals are able to effectively explore multifaceted dimensions of sexuality (e.g., behaviors, identity) as a function …

Its Skin Is My Skin, Bryan Page

Graduate School of Art Theses

This text examines the complexity of attempting to empathize with bodies that are vastly othered from my own. This broad yet nuanced subject crosses epistemological boundaries and complicates the dualities between both the mind and body, and between the corporeal and the virtual. My desire to better understand the conditions of another’s experience originates from a painful traumatic loss which caused me to feel isolated and incomplete. In response to this suffering, I long to emotionally connect with other beings and create artwork that attempts to bridge the qualia of individual experience.

I am interested in the capacity (or lack …